Plant Growth in Bloomsdale Spinach

How do added organisms in the soil impact growth rate of seeds? Research Question: How do added organisms in the soil impact growth rate of seeds? How did our science mentor guide us about Research Questions? After discussing as a group, we had a pretty good idea that we wanted to research the impact of added organisms in the soil on plant growth but were also considering other options. Our mentor decided that this research question would be the easiest to efficiently test. In the beginning, we were confused about the difference of growth and germination and after talking with our mentor we realized we were doing a growth research project, not a germination research project. Our mentor loved our research question, and just gave us some advice about keeping feasibility and our budget in mind when finalizing what we wanted to research. What did we observe (or remember) from everyday life/class that made us come up with this question? We have thought about plants growing outside, and all the organisms that come in contact with a plant everyday naturally, such as worms, insects, and bacteria. We were wondering if these organisms affect plant growth. We will be investigating the affect, focusing on spinach growth, in a controlled experiment with different organisms such as worms, bacteria, and fungus. Predictions: I predict that the seeds planted with red worms will have the best growth because worms are the organisms that seem to be the most commonly found in soil in nature and they help to aerate the soil which could be beneficial to seed growth. I predict bacteria powder will result in the second best growth, and following that in growth will be the plant with the mycorrhiza fungus. I predict that the plant with the least amount of growth will be the control plant, since there are no added organisms to the soil. List of materials that we will need for our design setup Top Soil Packet of Myco Blast Mycorrhizae (Bacteria) Packet of Supre Myco Tea Mycorrhizae & Trichoderma (Fungus) 4 Red Worms 24 Bloomsdale Spinach Seeds 8 Recyclable Planters 30 mL of distilled water for each plant 3 times a week Natural Sunlight

Experimental Design We have chosen to use 8 different pots with 3 seeds of the Bloomingdale Spinach in each. The seeds were planted 1/2 inch down in the soil. The pots each have around 6 Tablespoons of Top Soil. Each plant will be watered 3 times a week with 30mL of water. Two pots will be our control for the experiment, holding only the seeds and the top soil. Two of the pots will include two red earthworms. Two pots will have 30 mL of a Mycorrhizae Superpack dissolved in a gallon of distilled water The last two pots will have a Supre Myco Tea packet-this is the compost tea alternative that has bacteria infused within the mixture. The bacteria pack is also mixed with a gallon of distilled water. After the packet has been completely dissolved add 30 mL of the solution to each of the pots, one time. After setting up and labeling all the pots, add 30 mL of distilled water to them all. We then set them up on a window sill with natural sunlight. The plants need to be measured as soon as the first sprout is formed in whatever pot has the first sprout. We will be measuring the plants Monday’s, Wednesday’s, and Friday’s until the end date of the experiment. How did our science mentor guide us about Experimental Design? Our mentor helped us a lot with the experimental design, mostly with helping us decide which organisms we wanted to study and add to our soil. She gave us the idea of adding the mycorrhizae bacteria and fungus. She also told us to keep our experiment simple by only testing 4 different groups. We also consulted her about how much water we should be giving the plants. Photo of the design setup

Photos Across Time: Beginning of Experiment Bacteria #1 Bacteria #2 Control #1 Control #2 Fungus #2 Worm #2 Fungus #1 Worm #1

Photos Across Time: End of Experiment Bacteria #1 Bacteria #2 Control #1 Control #2 Fungus #1 Fungus #2 Worm #1 Worm #2

Data Table Showing Plant Growth

Quantitative Data Findings

Conclusion: What does the data tell us? The averages for each of the categories came to the following: Final Average Height of the Control Group: 3.48 cm Final Average Height of the Worm Group: 3.483 cm Final Average Height of the Bacteria Group: 3.757 cm Final Average Height of the Fungus Group: 4.375 cm In conclusion, the plants that had fungus added to their soil had the best rate of growth. We had not predicted that this will occur, we predicted that worms will lead to the best growth since they are found naturally in the soil and aid in aeration. We think that the worms were not as successful as we thought because the worms died in the beginning because they did not have enough soil. Even after we replaced the worms, we are thinking the lack of soil made the worms less successful than what we expected. Through research we have found that fungus helps plants absorb nutrients and water. Fungus also helps digest organic matter that is already found in the soil such as nitrogen. We believe that this explains our results, because the plant was able to absorb nutrients and water more efficiently which lead to increased growth. It would be important to repeat the experiment multiple times to make the results always line up. It would also be interesting to test different types of fungus to see if a certain type of fungus is more successful than others. It would also be interesting to test what would happen if all three of the organisms, bacteria, fungus, and worms, were all added to the same soil at once. How can farmers use the data to help a sprout farming business? If the results of this experiment came back to be the same after multiple times of experimentation, and it could be concluding that adding fungus to the soil increases growth rate in plants, then farmers could potentially use this information to help themselves grow better plants. It would really be quite simple for a farmer to add this fungus to his fields, and he would benefit by having taller and better crops. He would just have to dissolve a large amount of the Supre Myco Tea Mycorrhizae & Trichoderma (Fungus) into water, then go around his field with a tractor to add this on to his fields while he was preparing them for the upcoming planting season. He would essentially only need to add this to the soil once before planting the crops for the year, but he could add it more often if he preferred. Research could be done on the amount of fungus to add, and how often to add it in order to reach the best results. In the end, hopefully his crops would be very successful and would grow better than they did in the past.